


On the Inequality of Sexual Mores (Or, Apparently It Matters Who's Doing the Sucking)

by Lumeleo



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Bullying, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Sexual Harassment, M/M, Scandal, Slut Shaming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:47:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21584806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumeleo/pseuds/Lumeleo
Summary: After getting caught in a rather delicate situation with Atobe of all people, Sanada is not surprised that he would get teased. What he did not expect is the discovery that Atobe has been dealing with far worse than smirks and friendly jokes. Of course, he has to do what he can to set things straight.
Relationships: Atobe Keigo/Sanada Genichirou
Kudos: 28





	On the Inequality of Sexual Mores (Or, Apparently It Matters Who's Doing the Sucking)

Sanada wasn’t sure how he had ended up in this situation, but at the moment he could only thank his lucky stars for whatever events had led to this.

He had to admit he’d always been somewhat fascinated with Atobe. At first he’d just been a good rival, if an annoying one, but over the years he’d come to see more sides to the Atobe. Sides such as his sharp eyes, his confident smirks, the way his muscles moved under smooth skin as he played. Atobe was infuriating and enchanting all at once, and for all that he often found himself exasperated with Atobe’s antics, Sanada couldn’t help but be drawn in. Which was how he found himself in this current predicament.

He couldn’t just blame Atobe for this, knew he was just as much a participant in this as Atobe was. Perhaps Atobe had been the one to corner him against a wall, had seduced him with the smirks and stares and wandering hands. However, Sanada had been just as eager, returning kisses and caresses with breathless desire. His blood was boiling with arousal as Atobe’s body pressed against him, firm muscle and warm skin and a demanding mouth, and Sanada had no intention of backing down. Not that there was backing away anywhere now, with his back pressed against the wall of the empty locker room, his shorts and underwear pulled down mid-thigh. Atobe was kneeling in front of him, hands on his hips, the clever mouth wrapped around Sanada’s cock instead of snappy words and self-praise. Sanada could not recall how exactly they had ended up at this point, couldn’t say if they’d discussed this between breathless kisses or if it had just been the inevitable result of their little tryst. What he did know was that he was very okay with this development, even if he couldn’t quite voice his pleasure in actual words. He did what he could to make his approval clear, though, moans and grunts slipping from his lips as he ran a hand through Atobe’s hair. Atobe seemed quite content with this sort of feedback, applying himself with even more enthusiasm.

Atobe was beautiful like this, Sanada mused, even more beautiful than usual. His eyes were closed as though enjoying a tasty treat, his lips wrapped around Sanada’s cock in a truly sinful fashion, cheeks flushed with arousal. The visual was as wonderful as the sensation itself, if not more. Sanada could not take his eyes off Atobe, not even as his body was fast approaching the peak of his pleasure.

So distracted was Sanada, he actually didn’t notice the door opening at first. Then, however, it was made impossible to ignore as someone gasped loudly and ran away. Sanada’s eyes shot to the doorway, but whoever had walked in on them had already vanished. The next thing he realized was that Atobe was pulling away, quickly tucking Sanada back into his shorts.

“Well, then.” Atobe stood up, his expression apparently unaffected. There was a hint of something else in his eyes, though, something almost like fear, even though that couldn’t be. Not in Atobe’s eyes. “I’d apologize for having to cut this short, but I think the atmosphere was already ruined.”

“…Right.” Sanada’s body had not entirely caught up yet, but his arousal had definitely taken a hit. “I, ah —”

“Don’t bother.” Atobe leaned in for a brief kiss, and the realization that he could taste himself on Atobe’s lips made Sanada’s brain cut short. “Better to split before we give rise to even more gossip, ahn?”

Sanada couldn’t come up with a response before Atobe’d already left. It was a good thing he was already leaning against the wall, since his legs were shaking. With shock, arousal, or something else, he wasn’t entirely sure, but he could use the support anyway.

He thought he’d seen Atobe’s hands trembling, but surely he’d just imagined that.

*

For all that he thought he should have spoken with Atobe about, well, everything, Sanada did allow a couple of weeks for things to die down before heading to Hyoutei.

His team was not quite yet over it all, all too happy to poke fun at his little indiscretion. That was to be expected, though, as they no doubt enjoyed seeing some flaws in their stern vice captain. The rest of the student body seemed to have gotten over it, though, the sideways glances and murmurs dying down when Sanada refused to listen. By now, it was surely safe to go see Atobe without causing too much drama.

At least, this was what he believed. The notion was chased off rather quickly when he had barely approached the Hyoutei courts and was cut off by a very irate-looking Shishido.

“Haven’t you done enough fucking damage?”

Sanada blinked. “Excuse me?” That was unexpected. Sure, Shishido had a temper, but Sanada didn’t think he’d done much to deserve it right now.

“Oh, sure, just play innocent.” Shishido snorted even as the other Hyoutei regulars drew closer. Atobe, he noted, was conspicuously absent. “What are you doing here? Checking to see if you’ve ruined Atobe properly yet?”

“I’m not sure I understand.” Sanada frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. “I came here to speak with Atobe, that is all. I have no idea what you’re accusing me of.”

“No idea? Really?” Mukahi glared at him from behind Shishido. “You basically dragged his reputation to the ground, and now you’re here again. Which is useless, by the way, Atobe’s home today to get a break from the whole mess.”

“That is absurd.” Sanada frowned. “As you might recall, I was equally involved in the incident. Sure, some teasing was inevitable, but I would hardly call it ruining anyone. Certainly someone like Atobe should be used to being needled about something embarrassing.”

“Teasing?” Shishido echoed. “Needling? Okay, either you’re being obtuse on purpose or you’re just an absolute idiot.”

“I’m afraid I still don’t understand.” Sanada shook his head. “I would think I’m well aware of the results of the incident, being involved in it myself.”

“You really don’t see the difference?” Oshitari adjusted his glasses. “You’re a young man who got horny and stuck his dick in a warm hole. Maybe your choice of hole was a bit unusual, but it’s still an understandable impulse. Boys will be boys and all that. Atobe, though, he’s the one who got down on his knees and let another guy put a dick in his mouth. That’s a lot more difficult for a lot of people to wrap their minds around.”

“Ah.” Sanada swallowed. “I… didn’t think of it like that.”

“Clearly not.” Oshitari shook his head. “Look. We know Atobe, we know he wouldn’t get pushed into anything he doesn’t like. So, Shishido’s outburst aside, we don’t blame any of this idiocy on you. Just… don’t assume that just because you’ve gotten off with some light teasing, it’s the same for him.”

“What happened?” Sanada had a feeling he didn’t really want to know, but at the same time, he knew he had to. No matter how much of a sick feeling it gave him.

“He got kicked out of the student council, for one thing. Well, he’s saying he stepped down of his own volition, but everyone knows that happened after a teacher took him aside for an important conversation of some sort.” Shishido snorted. “Joke’s on them, that mess will fall apart five minutes into their first meeting without Atobe there to keep everything moving along.”

“He almost got kicked out of the tennis club, too. Not just stepping down as captain or from the regular team, he almost got forced out of the actual club.” Ootori looked down, clutching at his necklace as though seeking comfort from it. “We spoke with the coach and made him reconsider, but that was still far too close.”

“In the end, the only reason the coach budged is because we basically told him he’d have no regulars left if he tried to get rid of Atobe.” Mukahi smirked, though his eyes weren’t exactly in on it. “And not just because we’d leave in protest, but because we clearly couldn’t stay in a team that doesn’t allow anyone who isn’t straight.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Sanada frowned. “His intimate relations should have no bearing on his tennis skills. It should be abundantly clear that removing Atobe from the club would be harming the team.”

“Oh, but obviously he’s just going to destroy us all with his deviant ways, or something.” Oshitari sighed. “With all the talk going around, he probably would have been expelled by now if his parents weren’t such big donators, but even with that he still got a pretty strict scolding. Now, they’re not quite backwards enough to say it’s because he’s gay, but apparently he’s harming the school’s image and being disrespectful. Somehow I don’t think they’d have gone as far if he’d been caught with a girl, but that’s pretty hard to prove.”

“God.” Sanada was starting to feel somewhat nauseous. “Talk. What sort of talk?” Somehow, he didn’t think this was going to be the sort of comments he’d received.

“You know, exactly what you’d expect.” Mukahi folded his arms over his chest. “Atobe’s a pervert, and probably trying to ruin you. Or he’s only in the tennis club to be around a lot of guys in the locker room. Or he’s trying to turn us all gay with all his shine and dazzle.”

“He’s trying to claim it doesn’t affect him, of course, playing it off as ignorant idiots. Hell, he started keeping a tally of how many times he’d been told to kill himself, but had to stop because it was making Jirou cry.” Shishido looked aside, refusing to meet Sanada’s shocked gaze. “He’s putting up a good show, he always does. And he’s Atobe, he’s going to pull through in the end. Doesn’t mean we haven’t texted him throughout the day just to make sure, you know. That he’s still answering.”

“Shishido-senpai!” Ootori was terribly pale, now, and Sanada rather suspected his own face was showing much the same. “He’s not — Atobe wouldn’t —”

“I don’t think he’d do anything that stupid, no. But, you know. No harm in making sure.” Shishido finally looked at Sanada again. “I’m still not willing to say you’re all innocent in this, and your showing up here isn’t fucking going to help the matters. But if you do actually care about Atobe beyond a convenient fuck, don’t just push this shit aside and pretend nothing happened.”

“I never would.” Sanada shook his head, frowning. “I stayed back, that is true. However, that’s because I genuinely did not realize how bad things have been for him.”

“Well, now you do. So if you can’t help things, maybe try not to make them any worse at least?”

“I never wanted to do that.” Yet it was now becoming clear things hadn’t gone as he wished. “I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do to help the matters, but if there is anything, I will do my best to do so.”

They still didn’t look too happy with him, but Sanada was ready to work to earn their approval.

*

Sanada liked to think of himself as rather courageous, yet he felt rather intimidated by the sight of Atobe’s house. Or, well, the gates of it. The house itself was quite a ways away.

For a moment he wondered if he would even get inside, particularly when his press of the doorbell was answered by a rather cool tone from the attached speaker. When he told them he was there for the younger Atobe, though, the response was almost friendly. The gate swung open, letting him approach. Well, there was no backing away now.

Once he reached the front door after what felt like forever, he was greeted by a maid. “Oh, follow me!” She smiled and bowed. “Keigo-bocchama has been feeling rather poorly lately, I’m sure he’ll be cheered up by a visitor!”

“I hope so,” Sanada murmured. If nothing else, he could at least apologize.

The maid led him to a door, then bowed and stepped aside. Left to his own devices, Sanada drew a deep breath and knocked. A moment later he heard a somewhat flat, “Come in.” As unsure as he felt, this was hardly the time for hesitation. Opening the door, Sanada stepped inside.

He was not surprised to find that the room beyond was beyond spacious, easily the size of a modest apartment. However, the vast amount of space or the fine furniture did not draw his attention. All he was interested in was the rather disheveled-looking figure curled up on a couch in front of a window.

“…Atobe.” He wasn’t sure what else to say, wasn’t sure if there was anything else he could say. He had never seen his rival look quite so out of sorts, not even after losing to Echizen. Atobe’s hair was a mess, his face pale, and his shadowed eyes stared at the window with a sort of dull grimness that seemed quite unlike their usual sharpness. At his voice, though, Atobe turned his head, eyes widening ever so slightly as he saw Sanada.

“Sanada.” Atobe sat up a little straighter. “What are you doing here?”

“I went by your school but couldn’t find you.” Sanada paused. “Your teammates were… unhappy with me.”

“My apologies.” Atobe sighed. “I thought I made it clear to them that I alone am responsible for my choices, but they can get… protective.”

“I find it hard to see a flaw in players defending their captain.” Sanada cleared his throat. “I, ah. I did not realize how difficult things had been for you since, well. Since that day.”

“Good. At least one of us isn’t a complete mess, then.” Atobe gave him a humorless smirk. “What exactly did my players tell you?”

“That you have been removed from certain positions, for one thing. That the insults and malicious rumors got so bad, you needed time away from them.” At this, he saw Atobe’s lips twitch, and frowned. “What? I hardly think they would have made that up.”

“Oh, it’s true enough, but it’s not the gossip and insults that made me stay home.” Atobe shook his head. “I let my players think that because they are frazzled enough. However, that wasn’t what got through to me.”

“What, then?” Sanada frowned. “What would make someone like you avoid people? I highly doubt you were just taking an easy excuse to have a day off.”

“I was sexually harassed by another student.” Atobe gave him a wry smile. “And when I reported the incident to a teacher, I got told that they couldn’t do anything about it since I was clearly inviting such advances.”

Sanada clenched his fists, hoping desperately for someone deserving to punch. Perhaps the culprit, perhaps the teacher, or even both. “That is despicable.”

“Oh, sure. Unfortunately, I do not exactly have any way of protesting. With the way things are going, I fear they’d manage to find a way to not only blame me, but take it as further proof that I did something wrong to begin with.”

“And you are just letting that happen?” That didn’t sound like the Atobe he knew. “Surely your family is influential enough to get the school to stop such idiocy?”

“Ordinarily, yes. However, that would require me to tell my parents everything, and I’m… unsure of how that would turn out.” Atobe’s smirk lacked any semblance of humor. “For all I know, they might agree with the school.”

“Blame it on me, then.” The words came out before Sanada could really think about them, but considering them, he realized it was the best solution. “Talk to them, and if it seems like they might disapprove, tell them it was all me. I’m sure you of all people can find a way to present the events in a favorable light without downright lying.”

“You can’t be serious.” Atobe stared at him. “I like to think we were both involved, but if anything, I’m the one who seduced you. Why would you want me to turn that around and besmirch your honor for my own ends?”

“If I tried to keep my honor at the expense of your safety, I would have already given up what little honor I could claim.” Sanada shook his head. “Do whatever it takes to keep you safe. If that means smearing my name, I will back up anything you say.”

“That is a rather interesting approach to acting honorable.” Atobe chuckled. “However, I have to say I’m not surprised you would have your own view of things.”

“As you said, we were both involved in what happened. However, it is clear that you have faced much more in the way of negative consequences than I have, simply for the way our actions have been perceived. If anything, it seems only fair that I should shoulder more of the burden.” Sanada cleared his throat, doing his best not to flush too obviously. “I, ah. As unhappy as I am about how things turned out, I have no regrets about the fact of our meeting.”

“You don’t mind being a perverted deviant, then?” Atobe lifted his eyebrows., looking like he was mocking Sanada for such a notion. “Not looking to find a pretty proper girlfriend to turn into a pretty proper wife to share a pretty proper life?”

“I do not believe in living a lie. At present, I see little point in pursuing romance either way. However, if anyone would be to persuade me otherwise, I do not believe for a moment it would be a delicate young lady. Not because there is anything wrong with them, of course, I’m just… not interested.” Sanada shook his head. “I don’t much care for small and soft. I’d much rather go for stubborn and strong.”

“I would say that rather sounds like me, but at the moment, I don’t feel terribly strong.” Atobe closed his eyes, rubbing his forehead with a sigh. “I just… don’t know what to do. Words do not bother me, save for when they cause my players grief. However, it’s clearly not just words that I have to worry about.”

“So speak to your parents. Get them to take action. I will take all the blame you need me to, even if it means standing before them and claiming all fault.” He paused, a sort of mad idea forming in his mind. “And once this is all settled, I’d like to take you out on a proper date. Ah. If that is something you would like.”

Atobe stared at him for a moment, looking like he wasn’t sure he had heard right. At last he laughed, the sound hoarse but genuine enough. “Well! At least you are not lacking in confidence.”

“Never saw the point in beating around the bush.” Sanada shrugged. “Besides, if you were willing to get your mouth on me, I’d hope you can stand my presence at least long enough for me to buy you some fast food that is far below your usual standards. Because while you may be unsure about your family, I’m rather confident my parents would be more upset with me for not treating you properly than for the fact you are male.”

“That does sound like the sort of people who would raise someone like you.” Atobe shook his head. “Maybe you should at least wait until we know how awful the whole mess gets before asking for more trouble.”

“I don’t think I will change my mind, but if it makes you feel better, I can wait.” Sanada smirked. “Assuming your players don’t try to murder me before then.”

That was, after all, the only thing that could stop him.

*

“You look better.”

Atobe’s lips twitched as he came to a halt in front of Sanada. “I’d get offended, but considering the circumstances of our last meeting, that is probably fair enough.”

“Indeed.” Sanada tilted his head to the side to indicate the restaurant they were standing in front of. “Shall we? Or have you changed your mind about tolerating regular person food?”

“I’m sure I can handle it without getting food poisoning.” Atobe snorted. “And if that fails, I know who to blame.”

“So I’m already the designated scapegoat. I suppose I volunteered for that.” Even so, he smirked, leading their way inside. “Also, it means you allow me to influence your life, which I know is a compliment in itself.”

They managed to get their food and find a relatively peaceful table without too much trouble. As they sat down, Sanada glanced at Atobe.

“So.” He cleared his throat. “I’m assuming your conversation with your parents went well.”

“Depends on your definition.” Atobe snorted. “I received not one, not two, but three separate lectures. The first was for not coming to them as soon as there was a problem, which I suppose is understandable. I wasn’t certain of their reaction, but they made it very clear I should not have feared it. Which, well, I know that now.”

“That is good.” Sanada nodded, getting started on his fries. “And the other two?”

Atobe’s lips twitched. “Well, I got chewed out for not keeping any experiments to somewhere more sanitary and above all private. And once I had recovered from that, there was a very lengthy discussion about safe sex practices and how those also apply to oral sex.”

“Hn.” Sanada felt his face heating with a flush. “That’s… I suppose that’s the best outcome one could hope for.”

“Indeed. If those are the things they chose to have a problem with, I’m happy. It’s much easier to be more conscious of my location and protection than try to change or ignore a fundamental part of who I am.” Though Atobe was still smirking, the look in his eyes was surprisingly serious, almost vulnerable. “As long as they don’t have a problem with that, I can handle anything else.”

“Good.” Sanada nodded. “It would be rather a pity if you were to change too much. For all your flaws, I prefer you as, well, yourself.” He paused. “And… your school?”

“It went about as well as one could hope.” Atobe gave his burger a dubious look, but then took a small bite. Apparently it didn’t disappoint him too much, as he chewed and swallowed with a somewhat neutral expression. “Things with those involved were handled without fuss. The bastard who harassed me was expelled, and the teacher who refused to address it was reprimanded.”

“And how are they going to make sure it doesn’t happen again?” He was not naive enough to assume this would be a singular problem.

“Obviously, there is no way to guarantee such thing. However, my parents thought they could at least try to prevent it.” Atobe’s lips twitched. “My father pledged to fund a comprehensive sexual education course for all students, with a specific focus on things outside the heterosexual spectrum and consent in general. Also, all the teachers are going to have mandatory training about how to handle such things. Of course, none of this will prevent people from being assholes, but at least now I know that reporting such things might actually get taken seriously unless they want to get in more trouble.”

“That sounds like an excellent use of your family influence.”

“I've used it for worse things, to be sure.” Atobe smiled. “Also, there’s one thing about this whole mess that I’ve been thinking about.”

“Only one?” Sanada lifted his eyebrow, picking up a few more fries. “Do tell.”

“Well, thanks to such classes, once we’ve had a sufficient number of dates and end up in a suitably private place, I know how to suck your dick safely.”

Sanada was fairly sure making him choke on his fries was not safe at all.


End file.
